


A Cat Named

by Evil Crutchie (PawPunk)



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Cats, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, girl! buttons, girl! sniper, newsies being brosies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21853330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PawPunk/pseuds/Evil%20Crutchie
Summary: The newsies come together to save a little cat.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	A Cat Named

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheJediAssassinGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheJediAssassinGirl/gifts).



> Wow, me writing gen fluff w no warnings? shooketh
> 
> present for a good friend <3
> 
> trigger warnings: brief mentions of injured animals, debatably mentions of ableism?

A newsie named Romeo (on account of his tendency to fall in love with nearly everyone he saw) was walking back to the Duane Street lodging house when he heard from an alley a pathetic mewing. He stopped short, peering down the street.

“Hello?” he said.

In response, there was another meow. Romeo tentatively walked into the alley, listening for the sound. He found the source when he almost stepped on it- a little marmalade kitten.

“Awww,” he said, picking it up. The kitten hissed and bit him, and Romeo dropped it to the ground. It was easy to see why- in picking it up, Romeo had jostled the poor animal’s leg, which was bent all wrong.

Romeo didn’t want to leave the kitten there. He needed to help, but didn’t know how. Specs will know, he thought to himself.

“Wait here,” Romeo told the kitten, and ran to the lodging house as fast as he could.

A newsie named Specs (on account of how he once lit a pipe on fire with nothing but his spectacles and the sun) was minding his own business when Romeo came sprinting into the lodging house like a wolf was on his tail.

“Specs!” he screamed. “You gotta help me, fast!”

Specs leapt out of his chair. “What’s goin on?”

“There’s a cat and its hurt and I can’t move it or it bites me help me get it home!” Romeo said, and then gasped for breath.

Once Specs had processed Romeo’s deranged tirade, he calmly grabbed a worn out towel. “Lead the way,” he said.

Specs followed Romeo until he found the little kitten. “Hey sweetie,” he said softly, covering his hand with the towel and approaching. The kitten tried to walk away, but fell over. Quickly, Specs scooped it up. The kitten yowled and thrashed, but couldn’t bite or scratch him.

As fast as he could, Specs brought the kitten back to the lodging house. He lay it on his bed, but quickly saw the sorry state it was in. “It’s hungry,” Romeo noticed, stroking the kitten’s exposed ribs.

“I bet Henry knows what to feed it,” Specs said, and went to find him.

A newsie named Henry (on account of his parents liking that name) was just about to go home to see his mother when Specs tugged on his shirt. “Do ya know what cats eat?” he asked.

“Meat, probably,” Henry said shortly.

“Do you have any?”

“No,” said Henry. “You know we got nothing to spare around here.”

“Yeah,” Specs said, “But I think. The cat will die if it doesn’t get food.”

Henry sighed. “Lemme see it.”

Specs led Henry up to where the kitten was lying. Henry crouched down, looking at it. “That ain’t a cat,” he said. “It’s a kitten. It needs milk.”

“Do we have milk?” Romeo asked.

“No,” scoffed Henry.

“Can we get milk?”

“Not without money.”

“I bet JoJo has money,” Specs said. “You know he’s a wiz at getting people to give him extra.”

“Then ask him,” Henry said. “I’m going to go see my mom.”

A newsie named JoJo (on account of Josephino Jorgelino de la Guerra being a little too complicated for the younger newsies to pronounce) had just gotten back from selling when he was pounced on by Romeo. “JoJo, can I borrow some money?”

“Sure, as long as you actually intend to pay me back,” JoJo said. “Whaddaya need?”

“Milk,” Romeo said.

“Milk?”

“It’s for a cat,” he clarified.

“Okay,” JoJo said. “That’s like, six cents, ain’t it?” He passed Romeo the money. “I ain’t forgetting about that this time.”

“Uhuh,” said Romeo, who knew he was lying. For someone who cared so much about money, JoJo was excellent at forgetting who owed him.

JoJo walked Romeo to the store. The clerk gave them an odd look at their purchase of one quart of milk, but let them go without a fight. They ran back and prepared to give milk to the kitten, when-

A newsie named Buttons (on account of her somehow losing all the buttons on her shirt) burst into the room. “What are you doing?” hhe yelled.

“Feeding a cat,” said Specs, glaring at her.

“You can’t feed a cat cold milk,” Buttons scoffed. “You have to hear it up. And it won’t be able to drink it if you just make a puddle. You need to soak a cloth and let it suckle, like from its mama!”

“Well, we don’t have anything to heat it with,” said JoJo.

Everyone looked at Specs.

“It’s night time,” he pointed out.

“Right.” Buttons rubbed her chin, then gasped. “Sniper lives above Jacobi’s, right? She can get us in and we can use the stove there!”

“Well then what are we waiting for?” shouted Romeo. “Let’s go get help for our kitty, now!”

A newsie named Sniper (on account of her skill at slingshotting) had her evening rudely interrupted when her friends threw stones at her window. “What do you want?” she hissed. “It’s like, 2 am!”

“It’s only eleven, actually,” said Buttons. “Can you let us into Jacobi’s deli?”

“Why.”

“We need to heat up milk for a cat.”

Sniper groaned. “You guys are horrible, you know that? But I will.”

In a few minutes, Sniper had used borderline illegal means to unlock the shop. She supervised as Buttons heated the milk and poured it back into the bottle. “I’ll run this to the lodging house,” she offered. “So it doesn’t cool down.”

“Thanks, Snipes!” Buttons beamed, and Sniper gave a small smile in return before running off with the milk.

A newsie named Crutchie (on account of him using a crutch to walk and being too darn cute to just be called Crutch) awoke. He did not know why at first. Then, he became aware of the noice coming from the lodging house below.

“G-d dammit,” he whispered to himself. He lowered himself down the fire escape and poked his head in the window. “What is everyone doing?”

“Oh hey Crutchie!” said Specs jauntily, as he fed the kitten. “Come see this cat Romeo found!”

“I will do no such thing,” said Crutchie as he climbed in the window to do such thing.

“My turn,” said Sniper, and took the kitten. She whispered sweet nothings to it in Mandarin as she stroked its tiny head. Crutchie sat next to her.

“She’s cute, I’ll give ya that,” he said.

Romeo cocked his head. “How’d ya know its a she?”

“Magic.” Crutchie held his arms out for the kitten, and Sniper reluctantly passed her over. The cat bapped Crutchie’s nose, and he grinned. “No yo, no yo zlobidla,” he cooed. The cat bapped him again. “Hezka kočka!”

Much calmer now that she was warm and fed, the kitten was happy to be passed around the affectionate newsies. Pet names were babbled in English, Spanish, German, Italian, and countless other languages as newsies gathered around the creature. Nobody wanted to leave her on the street ever again.

A newsie named Jack (on account of him having to make up a fake identity and not being terribly creative) walked into the lodging house just before curfew. “Why are you up?” He asked the raucous crowd of children in the middle of the bedroom.

“Look!” Romeo shouted, holding the kitten up. “Ain’t she cute?”

“I guess,” Jack said. He rubbed the back of his head. “Ya know we can’t keep her, right?”

Buttons gasped. “Jack, you heartless man!” she yelled.

“I’m not heartless,” Jack protested. “I’m just sayin, we aren’t allowed to have animals in the lodging house.”

“Then we’d better kick you out,” said Specs.

“Hey!”

“Jack, look,” Sniper said. “Let us keep it a few days, so it can regain its strength. When it’s bigger and has a better chance of surviving, we can release it.”

JoJo shook his head. “It’ll be tame by then. It’ll need people to take care of it.”

“Then its better to leave it out now, huh?” Jack reasoned.

“But look how small ’n’ helpless she is!” Buttons protested.

The room exploded as newsies started bickering over the fate of the cat. She meowed, burrowing into Crutchie’s lap for safety. He picked her up and held her.

“Crutchie!” Romeo whispered.

“Hm?”

“You need to talk to Jack,” he said, dark eyes intense.

“Why?”

“He’s your friend,” Romeo stated definitively. “He’ll listen to you.”

Crutchie stroked the kitten. She purred, butting her head against his hand. “I’ll try,” he said.

“Hey Crutchie,” Jack said. “You agree with me, right?”

Crutchie slowly raised his head, looking Jack in the eye. “Well, Jack,” he said coldly, “It’s good to know if you met me today, you’d leave me on the street to die.”

“Hey now,” Jack said. “This is different, and you know it. I mean, it’s a cat, Crutchie. You’s a human.”

“I don’t care if she’s a cat or a human or an angel from heaven above,” Crutchie said, suddenly angry. “She needs help, and don’t newsies help anyone who needs it?”

Jack made a noncommittal sound. “It’s still against the rules.”

“Newsies have never cared about rules.”

Jack bit his lip. Crutchie held the cat up. She gazed at Jack with bright eyes.

“Fine,” Jack said, and the newsies erupted in cheers.

A cat named sunshine (on account of her golden fur and gentle disposition) curled on a soft bed. She was warm and safe here, surrounded by people who loved her.

“C’mon Sunshine!” called the human named Jack. She beeped and trotted over to him, butting his hand with her head.

“Hey!” Yelled another boy, Albert. “It’s my turn to cuddle her, and you know it!”

“Fight me, bitch!” said Jack, and he made a play at slapping Albert. Al just scooped Sunshine up and carried her to his bunk. Sunshine curled up under the covers, purring loudly in his ear.

“Good kitty,” Albert said, and fell asleep as soon as the lights went out. Sunshine stretched, settling on his back. She tucked her nose under her tail as well, and fell asleep happy and safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Translation of Crutchie's baby talk:
> 
> "No yo, no yo zlobidla" = "Yes yes, little mischief-maker"
> 
> "Hezka kočka!" = "Pretty cat!"
> 
> Both are in Czech


End file.
